The “Secret Sauce” for Fine-Art Image Processing

Photography, like any other medium, is a craft. In woodworking, you produce a finished product through a serial application of sandpaper, working from coarse to fine. The best finish is only obtained after using the finest-grit sandpapers, sometimes even between coats of lacquer. So it is, too with photography.

Your camera settings apply the foundation of the image, but they cannot refine the image in the same way your editing software can. Even seemingly small adjustments can be the difference between a snapshot and a gallery print. For years, my “secret sauce” has been to finish images with the “Big 3” Nik Collection plug-ins (Color Efex/HDR Efex/Silver Efex).

For a limited time, my collection of PDF guides to the Nik Collection by Google are available for only $9.99 each. Or, you can purchase the set of three guides for only $24.99. No coupon code necessary!

Each PDF guide is user-printable and also includes a set of installable custom presets for the Nik Collection plug-ins.

*Special Note:These products contain multiple files and are delivered as a ZIP archive. To download the files to an iPad, you will need a free ZIP utility, such as iZipfor iOS. Android users should consider using WinZip. Otherwise, download and extract the files to a Mac or PC and then transfer them to your tablet device.

Master the art of digital black and white photography with my new video workshop for Silver Efex Pro 2.

If you missed my online class on digital monochrome conversion using Silver Efex Pro 2 (Nik Collection), you can now download the video workshop. The video workshop includes an illustrated printable PDF notes package for easy reference.

This is my complete hands-on course for the Lightroom 5 Develop Module. We’ll go through the fundamentals of processing images in Lightroom 5, including workflow order, global adjustments, local adjustments, and image sharpening.

I’m pleased to announce the immediate release of a high-definition video companion to The Photographer’s Guide to HDR Efex Pro 2.0 (eBook site)

In this video, you get over two hours (159 minutes, actually) of in-depth training on creating fine-art HDR images with Nik Software’s HDR Efex Pro 2.0. I’ve gone through the entire HDR workflow, starting with image capture and RAW conversion and moving through all the steps you use in HDR Efex Pro 2 to create amazing HDR tone-maps. Continue reading New Companion Video for HDR Efex Pro 2.0 Users→